Factory Yamaha Concludes COTA Testing

Bashing away at the MotoUSA keyboard for nine years now, Madson lends his scribbling and editorial input on everything from bike reviews to industry analysis and motorcycle racing reports.

The Factory Yamaha MotoGP squad has concluded testing at the private preseason event at the Circuit of the Americas. The factory duo of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi ended the day a respective third and fifth on the timesheet, as rookie Marc Marquez continued to set the pace aboard his Repsol Honda.

Fastest during the opening day, Marquez shaved more than a second off his Day 1 result. The Spaniard was followed by LCR satellite Honda man Stefan Bradl. Lorenzo closed the gap considerably on Marquez, from more than 1.5 seconds on Day 1 to just over three tenths.

“I feel better today, especially in the last run before the lunch break,” said the defending champion via team press release. “We changed the setup of the bike and we improved some tenths so we are closer to the fastest riders, but not as much as we would like. We were too soft in the suspension to start with, we made it harder and in this track it works. Lorenzo continued: “These two days that we are here I think is enough to get a good idea of set up and riding style. The fans will like MotoGP here, it is going to be a great show.”

Teammate Valentino Rossi return said of his Day 2 fortunes: “Step by step we improved a lot from yesterday but have some disadvantage compared to the other guys so we need to put all the sections together.” With the nine-time world champ going on to state: “Our competitors are able to accelerate faster than us from the hairpin and they have a bit more grip on the edge compared to us so these are the areas where we have to work, in the flowing parts we are not so bad.”

The Yamaha duo will not have a chance to improve, as the team leaves the test early. Yamaha Team Director Massimo Meregalli explained: “The test here was organized by Honda to cover three days but we knew from the beginning that two days would be enough for us. The target was to allow the rider to get used to the circuit and get as much data as possible for our Japanese engineers.”

The Honda trio will continue to dial in the RC213V during the third and final day of testing at the new Texas GP circuit.